


Something Missing

by Neverever



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2017, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Internet, M/M, Mutual Pining, No character bashing, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reconciliation, Tony's goatee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: Steve is in Wakanda working for T'Challa. But he knows he's been away from home for too long when he finds out that Tony's shaved off his goatee and he has to talk to someone about it. Back in New York, Tony is trying to move on. He wonders who made the nice post on an Avengers forum about missing his goatee.





	Something Missing

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a result of a wonderful collaboration with Briz for the story to accompany her art for the Captain America/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2017. She was thinking of a story of what happens when Steve in Wakanda finds out that Tony has shaved off his goatee. It was wonderful to work with her and I really hope that this story meets her expectations.
> 
> Briz's art can be found [here](http://ab-jaded.livejournal.com/4744.html). It's great! Check it out!
> 
> This is a Civil War fix-it fic that is about more about fluff and coming to an understanding than working out all the issues of the fall-out from Civil War. I hope that you enjoy reading this story.
> 
> Big thanks to my beta, Arms_Plutonic.

Steve throws his duffle bag on the twin bed in the corner of his Wakandan studio apartment. He’s back again after a short mission with Sam for T’Challa. Their arrangement with T’Challa works for all of them -- Steve runs small special ops missions outside Wakanda mopping up HYDRA and other science terrorist groups, and T’Challa provides diplomatic immunity, a place for him to hang his hat, and a paycheck. It isn't bad and Steve has a purpose.

Sam appears at the door. “Want to watch the NBA finals?” he asks. 

It’s way too early in the morning. But it’s nine o’clock in New York and if Sam’s willing to watch baseball with Steve, Steve will watch basketball with Sam.

So Steve powers up the television while Sam fiddles with the internet to find the streaming game. Steve still marvels that they can watch a game as it happens, and not just listen to it on the radio. Sam and Steve are getting more into soccer lately, since they can watch those games in the same general time zone as Wakanda.

“If I were in DC, I’d be watching this at a local bar with some of my buddies at a normal time,” Sam says. “Nothing against hanging out in this hotel room you call an apartment. But, you know.”

Sam likes Wakanda well enough. He’s been all over the country and has even taken classes in social work and psychology towards his doctorate. But Steve has picked up that Sam is itchy about going back to the States and maybe resuming his work with the VA.

Steve doesn’t follow basketball as closely as Sam does, but he gets caught up in his enthusiasm easily. There’s a lull in the action and Sam says, “I have a meeting with some of T’Challa’s advisors tomorrow. They have an idea about reworking the Accords and finding us a way home.”

The others have already gone home or elsewhere under diplomatic immunity or through Wakandan passports. Steve wonders what Natasha would think of T’Challa’s motivations. But the young king is truly sorry for his actions because of Zemo’s plan and has been kind and generous towards the former Avengers. Scott left first, followed quickly by Clint. Wanda went off to work on controlling her powers. 

Now that he’s been in Wakanda for nearly a year, he can see why Wakandans are so careful about their dealings with the world beyond their borders. Wakandans live the future Steve dreamed of back in the 30s -- they have flying cars, for one thing. Everyone thrives on advanced science and technology that’s made life better. In his free time, Steve often wanders through Birnin Zana, the capital, marveling at the beautiful architecture that echoes the lush landscape. He has quite a few notebooks filled with sketches of the panther sculptures and art scattered profusely throughout the city.

But Wakanda isn’t home. The rhythms of life, the food and the language feel alien to Steve. He trips up on the names for the local fruit and vegetables in the markets, thinking first of the names he’d grown up with back in New York. They make coffee differently here. He misses something by being here, but can’t quite put his finger on the reason for the empty ache in his heart.

“Want to go back home?” he asks Sam.

“I go back and forth,” Sam admits. “I don’t want to give up on the whole superhero thing yet, you know. But I have a life back there. Do you want to stick around?”

“For a while,” Steve replies. To be honest, he feels indebted to T’Challa.

“Hmmm.”

“Out with it, Wilson.” Steve leans back in his chair, knowing that Sam has something on his mind.

“Are you sure about this? It doesn’t feel like SHIELD all over again to you -- that part where you joined up after the Battle of New York?”

Steve rolls a pencil back and forth in his fingers. “I owe it to T’Challa.”

“Come on, Steve. Come back to DC with me. You don’t have to do anything immediately -- unless you want to. You have those invitations to do talks. The Army War College residency isn't a bad idea.”

Steve dreams at times of being back in the Avengers compound. He’s always hated feeling like a dancing monkey, so he’s not entirely missing being Captain America. But he misses Natasha, Wanda, Clint, and even Vision. And then there’s Tony. He thinks far more about Tony than he should. Flashes of things -- the tip of his tongue sticking out when Tony’s working a hard problem, the liquid brown of his eyes, Tony bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet -- keep coming back to Steve and he can’t figure out why.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

The game is over and Sam is annoyed that Cincinnati is doing well in the finals. “I’ll catch you later. Think about it. We could be back in the US by the fall, free and clear.”

After Sam is gone, Steve feels the ache in his heart again, like an itch he can’t scratch away or a pebble that he can't quite shake out of his shoe. As best he can tell, he’s vaguely unhappy about something. Which isn't entirely a new feeling.

Before turning in for a quick nap, Steve surfs the internet, looking for news on his old teammates. Scott is up to something in San Francisco, he can tell by the stories on tech firms fighting espionage. Nothing on Clint or Natasha or Vision. Rhodey has a high-level job in Stark Industries’ biomedical technology division. 

Then he checks Tony’s social media accounts. He’s subscribed to Tony’s twitter and instagram accounts to check in on him. He plays a video from a recent technology conference. Steve swallows hard. In it, Tony is talking to a couple of interviewers about recent Stark Industries advances. He looks good in his tailored suit, tanned and rested, joking and flirting as he always does. He’s happy, and it makes Steve happy to see him like this.

But something is completely wrong with Tony. He’s clean shaven. That gets under Steve’s skin in a worrisome way. Without his complicated facial hair, Tony seems younger and less himself, someone completely alien to Steve.

Something breaks in Steve. He’s been away from home for too long.

Logging into a forum on an Avengers fan site, he taps in a comment about all the good work Tony is doing, but that maybe he shouldn’t have shaved the goatee. 

He closes his laptop and tries to not think about the recent past as he drifts off to sleep.

~~~~~

Happy is driving Tony upstate to the old Avengers base for the weekend so Tony can finish working on some projects.

Nowadays, Tony spends nearly all his time in New York studying the possibilities of moving Stark Industries back east. Pepper isn’t crazy about the idea and would prefer to stay near the California technology hubs. Even though they don’t see eye to eye on this issue, Tony’s happy to argue with her about anything that’s not them. 

After the whole Accords mess, Tony had some hopes of repairing their relationship. But now he knows they are never, ever getting back together, as the song goes. And he’s okay with that. He’s come to realize after the Mandarin incident that he needs checks and balances in his life. And Pepper is not going to stand up to him in the way that he needs. Besides, she remains ambivalent about Iron Man. It’s a fundamental problem in their relationship. He loves her as one of his best friends, and they still have a great time together when he’s in Malibu.

“Hey, Honey Bear, up for some fun at the base?” Tony says over the phone to Rhodey. Rhodey is in New York also, doing some charity events for the September Foundation.

“I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Can’t imagine a better time -- so get up here as soon as you can.”

Tony doesn’t use Cap’s old office. He did for the first few months after taking back the Avengers. He had Cap’s stuff packed up and put in storage for when he asked for his belongings. Tony would never admit how much he was bothered by the fact that it took less than thirty minutes to pack everything up. Steve may have run the Avengers from this office, but he never lived here. Tony remembers the nicely framed letters of commendation and thank-yous that lined the windows and the fountain pen set. He had expected to find more, stuff in drawers, a scuff on a wall, maybe a folded paper airplane. He found nothing, and the lack of a personal touch bothered him. 

Even after removing the last traces of Steve, Tony couldn’t stop thinking about the man when he sat in the room. So he moved to a different office.

Ross pokes at him constantly about reforming the Avengers. Tony would like to -- after years of being on his own, he misses having a team around him. He’s working with former SHIELD agents to form an Avengers-like taskforce, following Ross’ suggestions and the Accord rules. But it’s not coming along as smoothly as anyone, including the trainees, would like.

Tony catches a view of himself in the monitor screen. He’s not sold on the lack of goatee. He’d shaved it off as part of a September Foundation event. A shave-your-beard-off-for-donations thing. He decided to try the goatee-less look for a while, as part of his new post-everything life. New look, new clothes, new hairstyle, the whole works.

But he’s restless. He’s got problems he needs to sort out, and it feels overwhelming in a way that that problems never have before. The base is too big and empty for the small collection of humans staying there. Or maybe it’s just him. Vision may be around, but he makes a point of hanging out with the recruits as part of his learning-to-be-more human plan. And the recruits don’t live in the Avengers area, which remains deserted.

He finishes checking his messages from Pepper, the September Foundation, and the R&D people. He’s so bored that he goes to check out posts about himself on the internet, eventually ending up on an old-fashioned site with forums and galleries and news clippings about the Avengers. 

Tony sits up straighter in his chair, knitting his eyebrows together as he reads a nicely written note about all of Tony’s recent charity work that ends by saying he looked better with the goatee. The poster has good grammar and the worst screen name ever -- Grant Rogers. The name reminds Tony that Steve’s middle name is Grant. 

So, a Cap fanboy. 

Then a sudden flutter of hope laced with fear that the poster could be Steve himself. The name too ridiculous to ignore.

It can't be Steve. Tony knows where all the former Avengers are, except for Natasha. Sam is working for T’Challa in some military capacity -- he’s rather distinct due to the wings. But Tony can never find anything on Steve. It’s like he keeps getting mail stamped ‘return to sender’ with no forwarding address. Ross sends him reports that the bright boys and girls in the CIA and military intelligence mark as Steve sightings. But nothing pans out. 

Guess once the guy’s out of the whole red, white and blue uniform, he’s easily lost in the crowd.

On a whim, Tony asks Friday to run some tests and trackers. Grant Rogers’ IP is hidden behind several firewalls and anonymizer sites. 

He reads the post again. It still sounds a lot like Steve. Tony shoots off a quick reply about the goatee -- “Maybe the guy just looks his age now that he’s shaved the rug off.” 

He hopes he gets an answer. Although he’s not sure why.

~~~~~

The mysterious Grant Rogers replies more nicely to Iron Man’s Left Gauntlet than anyone on the internet should. Tony replies again. Actually, he finds he’s getting sucked into checking the forum more often than he really has time for. But he’s having a lot of fun talking with Grant Rogers. At the moment, they’re debating the merits of post-war classic science fiction. 

Tony goes back and forth about whether or not he’s talking with Steve. There’s an odd, old-timey-sounding phrase here and there, and Grant Rogers posts at times that match up to the Wakandan time zone. 

But he knows all the modern films, shows and books that Tony knows. And that's not the Steve that Tony remembers.

Admittedly, Tony doesn’t remember much except wanting to know Steve better, and getting annoyed with all the references to his dad. In the end, Steve was someone he worked with, and it was hard to get a good read on the guy who seemed to be all business all the time. So, yeah, Grant Rogers might be Steve Rogers, but he didn’t seem to be _his_ Steve Rogers.

He could call, of course, considering that Steve sent a phone to call him on. Although that’s not why Steve sent the phone -- he was probably thinking of a major Earth-threatening catastrophe, not a ‘hey, are you that guy?’ kind of call. And Tony had kind of destroyed the phone. He hadn't meant to -- he shoved it in a box and a forklift ran the box over when it fell to the floor in a warehouse.

At any rate, Grant Rogers is an interesting guy with ideas about art and books who Tony could talk to all night long. Even though Tony has no idea what to do if it really is Steve.

~~~~~

Ross is perpetually annoyed with a lot of different things. Being Secretary of State isn’t helping with his vow to live a better, more charitable life. 

“And there’s this crap,” Ross says, throwing a real, dead-tree newspaper at Tony. “Look at that article.”

Tony has seen the news about the Nomad. That’s what the worldwide media has named the mysterious hero who has been targeting HYDRA and the unexpected paramilitary branch of AIM. Since Killian’s death, the former think tank moved into supporting science terrorism. Nomad is doing what the Avengers did at their best -- fighting the battles that the local authorities couldn’t handle without the risk of mass civilian casualties. The Nomad is scarily effective.

“Yeah, I’ve read about him.”

“We could use him on that below-standard Avengers team you’ve cobbled together. What do you think it would take to get him?”

“No one knows who he is,” Tony replies. He knows because he’s been trying to find out who Nomad is for the past three weeks. He’s studied shaky camera footage and blurry photos of the vigilante. He could use someone with that talent.

“I’ll get my team working on it. We may shake something loose. I’ll be in touch.”

Tony travels back to New York. He thinks he might be losing his mind as he looks for Nomad in the crowds or out of the corner of his eyes. He keeps checking for posts from Grant Rogers -- he could use a diversion right now from his troubles. His internet friend is worried about whether the next Star Trek show is going to happen or not. Tony has Opinions, so he spends the flight back to New York posting madly.

~~~~~

“I don’t like this,” Steve says under his breath. He is sorting through the intelligence that he and Sam recovered from a raid on a HYDRA outpost. “This reads like operations I ran across in the war.”

“Really?” asks Sam. He’s destroying the small pile of arms they found and setting a tracking device for the local authorities to retrieve the tied-up HYDRA agents. “I’m done here. Where’s the plane?”

Steve tucks the drive into a belt pocket. “Pickup is a couple of streets over.” He’ll analyze what they’ve found back in Wakanda.

They settle into the seats on the plane, ready for the six-hour flight back. Steve checks his phone to see if Iron Man’s Left Gauntlet -- or That Internet Guy as Sam has dubbed him -- has posted yet. Sometimes he wonders if he’s talking with Tony, and not a random person. He could ask someone to track down the IP address, but that seems too much of an invasion of privacy. Plus, he figures he’s made a new friend and he doesn’t want to alienate the guy if he’s not Tony. He knows it’s a pipe-dream to think that Tony, of all the people in the world, would be talking to him over an internet forum. But a small part of him wants Internet Guy to be Tony.

There are plenty of news stories about Tony, who seems to always be on the go. Steve enjoys reading the stories about Tony’s innovations and his ideas about the future. Before the falling out, Steve never got a chance to talk to Tony about his non-Avengers life. They had a job to do, and that’s all they really talked about. For someone who lived a lot of his life in the public eye, Tony had the knack of carving out some semblance of privacy. 

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of Tony again,” Sam groans from his seat.

“Um, maybe,” Steve confesses. Tony looks rather handsome in the latest batch of pictures reblogged on the Avengers forum. He hadn’t quite thought about Tony in that way before, but six weeks of posting about what a great guy Tony is has kind of opened his eyes to new possibilities.

“Steve, look -- maybe that’s not a road you want to go down,” Sam warns him.

“Why?” he asks, genuinely curious about Sam’s advice. Sam usually gives good, solid advice, so he’s not inclined to forget it.

Sam draws a deep breath. “You didn’t part on the best terms and pining after someone you’re likely to never meet again isn’t helping you at all to get past this stuck phase.”

“You think I’m stuck?”

“Yeah -- what’s so different about working for T’Challa or SHIELD?”

Steve doesn’t reply. He’s been feeling the same way, and it doesn't help that Sam spells it out just like that. Maybe before Siberia he’d have been happy to stay working for T’Challa. But he has plans; ideas and possibilities he hadn’t considered that make him excited now. He doesn’t think about the past or what’s he lost all that much anymore. He feels lighter, less burdened, and all of a sudden thoughts about Tony are sneaking into his mind all the time.

His phone bleeps -- Internet Guy has posted again. He smiles, reading the message, while Sam rolls his eyes and goes back to his book. 

~~~~~

At the Avengers base, Tony watches Ross leave the helicopter, two familiar figures in tow. He hasn't heard a single bit of news about Natasha for months. And now she’s here. With Nick Fury, of all people.

“We have to talk,” she says, without missing a beat. 

Fury commands the conference room like a king. He lays out the data, video clips and reports. “It’s very simple, everyone. All the information points to the return of Red Skull -- he’s rejuvenating HYDRA and gathering forces for some plan.”

Tony exchanges a quick glance with Natasha. She looks serious. “We’ve been working on this for the past six months,” she whispers. 

“How?” he asks.

It’s Fury who replies. “We don’t know, Tony. But we need to stop him by any means necessary.”

Tony studies the information. He doesn’t know if his new team is up to the challenge. Their last mission was too close for comfort, and Ross has been reasonably critical of their performance. Tony suspects that the only reason they’ve been as minorly successful as they have is because of Rhodey’s efforts. On the other hand, how hard can it be to defeat this blast from the past?

“There is a living expert on defeating the Red Skull --” Fury starts.

Tony can’t read Ross’ face. The Accords have been modified since last year when a number of countries, led by the Wakandan ambassadors, objected to various sections. That prompted a massive reworking and, as far as Tony understands, the changes are the ones that Steve wanted. And the Accords would now apply to many more people and organizations than just the Avengers, which makes the law even more fair. 

“We can’t find him,” Tony blurts out.

Natasha states simply, “We can. Steve would want to finally defeat Red Skull if he got the chance.”

Fury and Natasha look expectantly at Tony and Ross. “We need to study this more,” Ross says, breaking the stalemate.

“The sources are my best,” Fury counters.

“Yes. But I have to sell this to a whole bunch of people who aren’t in this room. They’re not likely to believe that Red Skull is back from the dead.”

“Is that the only objection?” Fury asks.

Ross steeples his hands and looks at an invisible spot on the table. “Who knows?” he confesses. “There are a lot of people who would be glad to have Captain America back.”

Tony takes a sharp breath. He's not ready to see Steve again. Even if he thinks he’s been talking to him every day for weeks on a web forum. A living, breathing Steve in front of him is a very different prospect from an imaginary Steve.

Although, in all honesty, he kind of always viewed Steve as an imaginary friend come to life. Which probably wasn’t very fair to Steve, since Steve had the major drawback of being a real person, and not a collection of perfect ideals.

“I’ll be training my team in the meantime,” he announces. 

~~~~~

Tony’s new Avengers aren’t doing particularly well against this latest version of HYDRA goons. He sees clearly what Ross was worried about. The team isn’t coming together the way he remembers the Avengers fighting before they broke up. 

Hell, these guys aren’t even fighting like the broken-up Avengers fought at the airport.

Rhodey is flying a specially redesigned War Machine armor. He can walk with braces and crutches and begged to try War Machine again. He’s still got it. Now, he is shaking his head, and Tony can tell that he is rolling his eyes at the amateur hour playing out below them. 

“Where did you find these guys?”

“Ex-SHIELD trainees for the most part,” Tony confesses. He hand picked them himself through an in-depth and extensive interview process. “I’ll pay --”

“What you need are drill sergeants and special ops guys. I’m not the guy to whip ‘em into shape.”

Tony knows Rhodey well enough to trust his opinion. He guesses he’s back to the drawing board with his new team. Maybe he can lure Clint out of retirement to help. 

~~~~~

T’Challa doesn’t answer when Ross inquires about the whereabouts of one Steve Rogers. They’re sitting in an office in Washington, D.C. Wakanda doesn’t quite have an embassy yet, and T’Challa is renting some of the best office space available. The skyline is still marred by construction workers taking down the burnt remnants of the Triskelion. Some important people are talking about rebuilding SHIELD, but no one wants to rebuild the monument to SHIELD’s excesses. Tony hopes that sentiment doesn’t extend towards the Avengers.

“We have an international threat on our hands that only Steve Rogers is an expert on. I have some intelligence that you might know where he is,” Ross repeats.

Ross is persistent, Tony gives him that. Tony likes T’Challa and they have a shared love of technology that ordinarily would make them friends. But T’Challa has a country to run, and Tony’s not here to talk vibranium or futurism.

“I am not sure you would believe him if you knew where he was. You didn’t believe him about the army of Soviet-created super-soldiers. Which you and I both know was a true story and a great threat to the world we love,” T’Challa finally says. 

Ross flinches. “Mistakes were made,” he admits. “Ones we would not make now, given the circumstances.” 

“True.” T’Challa glances through the documents Ross gave him about the Red Skull and taps the table as he thinks. “I will consider your request at length and send you my decision.” He stands, which means that Ross and Tony have to scramble to stand too.

“Your majesty --” Ross says.

But T’Challa has already dismissed them and is onto the next thing on his agenda. An aide politely and efficiently shows them out. As Tony and Ross wait for their respective cars, Tony says, “At least he didn’t throw us out.”

“But what does it mean?” Ross counters. 

“That he’ll consider our request.” Tony figures that T’Challa will ask Steve what he thinks and whether or not he wants to work again as an Avenger. Or maybe not even that.

All Tony knows is that he’s not ready to see Steve yet, despite all the fantasies. It was after Siberia that he thought he saw Steve everywhere -- stacking cups behind the barista in the coffee shop, waiting with a crowd of pedestrians to cross the street, working construction on a building that Tony could see from his car. 

He has no idea why he imagined seeing Steve everywhere. At first he thought he was just trying to find closure to a terrible no-win situation. But when he wakes up at 4 in the morning and thinks about Steve, Tony knows he has big, unresolved feelings. That's a problem that Tony has no idea how to resolve.

~~~~~

They don’t hear from T’Challa before he leaves to return to Wakanda. But a nuclear power plant in Virginia gets a visit from the Red Skull’s minions. Tony is amazed by the effort put into the matching uniforms for the minions. Now he is fighting a villain with style. 

Except that the minions are tougher than he and his New Avengers team can handle. Tony is distracted from attacking because he needs to coordinate his team against the minion army. He can’t even follow the constant stream of information delivered by Friday. He does have the thought that he should have programmed her with less attitude. Rhodey would know what to do. But so would Steve.

Tony swoops down, barely in time, to rescue three members of his team from being blasted into the next universe by the minions. He checks with Friday and his team is being driven back by the Red Skull. Skull is ruthless in his deployment of his forces. Tony doesn’t like seeing the number of non-moving bodies strewn around the power plant.

It dawns on him that what he really needs is Steve. Tony hates to his core that he thinks that way. He’s perfectly capable of fighting Red Skull himself. 

Then a black plane that looks suspiciously like one of T’Challa’s lands outside the plant. A small team, all in black and led by a dark blond man, runs out and fans out across the east side of the plant, claiming the high ground. They gather up his New Avengers in the process, quickly integrating Tony’s team into their own. From his viewpoint in the sky, Tony see the leader stop briefly to listen to a couple of women reporting on the battle and then calmly read off commands.

In the lower-left corner of the HUD, Friday is displaying video clips of Nomad, while running analysis on the right. “I am certain that we are fighting with Nomad, sir,” she says. “Or a very close copy of the man.”

“Record everything,” Tony snaps. They’re pressing the advantage now and cornering the Skull’s minions into a trap.

Tony studies the Nomad. He has a sinking feeling about him. The stance, the confident leadership, and the relentless fighting points to Nomad’s real identity. All he needs is the Nomad to throw a motorcycle or a garbage can lid into a crowd of minions and he’ll know for sure.

In practically no time, the minions are locked up and ready for collection by the Feds. Tony would be more impressed if he hadn’t already seen Steve do a dozen similar missions. He gets his battered and bruised team on a quinjet for the trip back to the base.

Ross asks, “So, Nomad -- did you get to talk to him?”

Tony replies truthfully. “Nope. And he’s disappeared again.” 

Watching Friday’s mission tapes, Tony reflects that he knows how to fight as a single superhero. Steve knows how to fight with a team as a single unit. And that's what they need to defeat Red Skull.

He guesses he could work again with Steve to save the world.

~~~~~

“I saw him sucked into space,” Steve states firmly when T’Challa tells him about Red Skull.

Steve’s blood nearly boils with the news. Red Skull’s terror shouldn’t get a toehold in the future. He doesn’t need to know how Red Skull made it back to Earth -- people like Tony can figure that out, much faster than Steve. 

“Secretary Ross wants to know if you would return to the United States and take up the mantle of Captain America again,” T’Challa says. “Ross is offering to clear up any remaining legal problems for you. I have documents in case you would like proof -- my lawyers are reviewing them now.”

Sam has a slight frown on his face. “This was Ross, right?” He turns to Steve. “It didn’t work out all that great when I told Tony about the super-soldiers in Siberia. You should be careful.”

“Tony didn’t know about Zemo or his plans. He saw the dead soldiers -- he knew why Bucky and I were there,” Steve replies. “Tony believed you.”

“But I’m looking at what happened afterwards -- what if this all works out? Do you really want to be Captain America again?”

“You are welcome to stay and continue your work for me, Captain Rogers,” T’Challa says. “I could even lend your services as Nomad if you would prefer that.”

Steve doesn’t know what to do. He’s not ready yet to step back into the circus. But Red Skull.... “I have to think,” he says as he gets up.

He takes a long walk through the city to clear his head, making a ten-mile circuit through lush green city parks and down favorite streets. Going back would mean leading a team again and being free of his legal problems. He trusts T’Challa’s lawyers and he’s okay now with the rewritten Accords, so that’s not the problem.

But he wonders if he could talk to Tony again. He has spent the last few months reliving all his happy and good memories of Tony and, he admits, developing some feelings for his absent friend. 

It would crush him if Tony was still angry with him.

He sits on a park bench and checks for messages from Internet Guy. He smiles at the jokes, makes a mental note of a book recommendation, and writes back a teasing jibe about binge-watching Netflix shows. His heart aches a little thinking that he would love to meet Internet Guy. 

If Internet Guy really is Tony, well, maybe they are friends now. After all, Internet Guy has sent him dozens of memes, and that seems a lot like Tony. 

He still prefers Tony with the goatee, but he can overlook the whole clean-shaven bit to go out for coffee.

His phone beeps peremptorily. “Get back here. Red Skull’s attacking an French army base,” Sam says. 

~~~~~

“I can think of a dozen better things to do in Nice than defend an army base against a Red Skull attack,” Tony says to Natasha. 

He likes this, it feels familiar and Natasha has already made some improvements with the New Avengers. Vision is rushing ahead to set up defenses -- Natasha’s idea.

She looks up from her phone and smiles. “That’s what Clint says.”

“Is Robin Hood joining us for our little jaunt?” 

“No, but I’m close to getting him to. He might be able to talk Scott -- Ant-Man -- into coming along with him. But you know, Hank Pym told Scott that you weren’t to be trusted long before Zemo happened, so that might be a lost cause.”

Tony shrugs that off. “Anyone else?”

“Vision is talking to Wanda -- she’s on the fence. But if I get Clint, she’ll come eventually.”

“So, it’s almost old home week.”

Natasha knows where Steve is, Tony is certain of that, but she’s not telling. But he’s happy because she’s happy to be with a team again. 

They’re met by a French delegation after they land. The Accords diplomats have made arrangements for the New Avengers to fly in and take over operations. Tony wishes Rhodey could be here, but he isn't up for the fight this time. No one suggests he call in Spider-Kid.

“So what does Red Skull want here?”

Natasha replies, “Experimental metal technology the French are testing in the field.” She checks the comms. “I hope T’Challa sends his special ops team.”

“T’Challa?”

“He has an agreement with the UN under the Accords.”

Tony is buoyant, finally feeling that pieces are snapping into place for a good defense of the base. He has some of the old team back together. Rhodey’s given him a lot of advice and most of it has stuck, he thinks. 

But Red Skull strikes hard and fast, scattering the first line of defense. The French soldiers are gritty and determined, since it’s their home being attacked. But this time Red Skull has supplemented his minions with some Chitauri. And it’s all much harder than expected.

Until T’Challa’s special ops team arrives. It’s Nomad, with a larger team this time. 

“Dora Milaje,” Natasha announces over the comms. Nomad is leading one team, and the Dora Milaje are a separate team. 

The fight gets furious and nasty quickly. Tony is grounded after a lucky shot disables the armor’s jet boots. Steve -- no, Nomad jumps to his side and together they fight Red Skull’s forces. He can’t deny it’s Steve. Natasha nearly says something, but bites her tongue hard. Ordinarily Tony wouldn’t put up with the ridiculous charade, but he and his still-green team need Steve.

At the end of the battle, Tony hunts down Nomad. He finds him talking to a colonel about the damage to the base. Before he can get close enough to say something, Nomad takes off quickly, spilling the contents of his backpack. Tony spies a phone among the protein bars, and pockets it.

Tony listens to Natasha debrief Fury and Ross on the way home. He flips through the phone, which is surprisingly easy to hack into, given Wakandan technology. On it he finds all the responses he sent to Grant Rogers on that silly Avengers Forum. It slowly sinks in that Nomad really is Steve, based on the tons of text messages from Sam and the Wakandans.

And he can no longer deny that Steve is his internet friend Grant Rogers. His mind reels at the thought that he has been talking to Steve for a couple of months on the internet. For once, he’s at a loss for words.

~~~~~

Tony sits in his office in his apartment in Avengers Tower, staring at Captain America’s shield. Ross has asked him for the shield. But he can’t give it up. He has kept it stored in a closet wrapped in towels. Right now, it’s the most tangible thing he has of Steve.

When they return from Nice, Tony tries to access the phone again. Just to see if he is wrong about Nomad, Grant Rogers, and Steve. But now it’s a brick. 

Tony tries reverse engineering the thing, but the technology that bricked the phone is simple and deadly effective. He shoves the phone parts into the trash. 

Now he sits in the dark with a drink in hand, trying to sort out his thoughts.

Natasha probably told Fury already that Steve is Nomad. He's not sure if she’ll tell Ross -- she’d walk barefoot a mile over broken glass for Fury, but not for anyone else. Except possibly Steve.

He feels overwhelmed by it all. He can’t reply to Grant Rogers, now that he knows that he’s been talking -- hell, flirting -- with Steve all these months. He can’t put up with the charade any longer. This is supposed to be Tony’s year for new starts. 

Let Natasha sort things out with Ross and Fury about Steve. He’ll do his part. But he’s just not ready for Steve.

~~~~~

Steve hasn’t heard from Internet Guy for three days after the battle in Nice. He’s not stupid -- he lost his phone, and Tony picks up on tech like a bloodhound. He has no doubt discovered that Steve is Nomad and Grant Rogers, to boot.

And Steve knows in his heart that the Internet Guy is Tony. He’s been a bit willfully blind about Internet Guy -- in one of their last exchanges Internet Guy told a joke about the Avengers that Tony told all the time. And there was that post about JARVIS. And all the posts about robots and robotics. Steve can’t ignore it now: Internet Guy hasn’t posted since Steve lost his phone. Steve is a very smart guy and if he’s connected the dots, then Tony has too.

He takes a deep breath as he folds his laundry and puts it away in his closet. Ross has asked T’Challa again about Steve’s location. Steve knows that he was created to fight Red Skull. He could do some damage with his special ops team, but to work with the Avengers would be better. He can always use someone like Tony for air support. 

He should be focusing on the answer he needs to give T’Challa about Ross. Instead he’s thinking about Tony, about the friendship they developed online, and how lonely he now feels that he’s lost internet Tony. 

“Have you seen the news?” Sam asks as he walks into the apartment.

They turn on the television only to hear about the latest attack from Red Skull. Steve’s jaw tightens as he guesses the civilian casualty count, and knows there is only one course of action. 

“It’s time to go home,” he tells Sam. 

~~~~~

Tony waits with Steve’s shield in the quinjet. A jubilant Ross called him up to announce that Steve was returning from Wakanda to fight the Red Skull. The rest of the team -- Natasha, Vision, Wanda, Clint -- are waiting in the hangar. 

Rhodey is off on a mission to distract Red Skull and his army, while the Avengers raid his base. It’s something that he and Steve cooked up on a long, private talk. 

“So what did you talk about?” Tony asked him.

Rhodey paused to look down at his feet, obviously thinking hard. “We talked, and I get where he was coming from. He always respected my position on the Accords.”

“That’s not a three-hour conversation.”

“It is for some people. Try it and find out,” Rhodey replied. “I’ll check in when I find intel.” He blasted off into the sky, heading out for his mission.

Rhodey didn’t ask Tony to give Steve a chance or hear him out or any other excuse. He made his own peace with Steve, shook metaphorical hands, and got on with the mission. 

And now here Tony stands, with the most ridiculous offensive weapon from WWII, waiting for someone he thought he knew. Or maybe he does know now, considering that they have been exchanging messages for a few months.

Once Steve and Sam arrive, they’re heading off to Washington, where Fury says Red Skull is.

Sam is first off the Wakandan jet. He knows because everyone is shouting his name and, boy, he didn’t realize Sam was so popular with the old Avengers. Then Tony freezes as he hears Steve’s name. He can tell the team is happy that Steve’s back, but his heart is beating hard and fast. He has no idea why he is even vaguely nervous. He’s done a lot of hard, miserable stuff in his life, including building the armor in a cave from scraps and ancient computers. He can do this.

Then Steve is in the quintet, all of a sudden. Tony is not entirely sold on the special ops suit -- the all-black, form-fitting suit doesn’t do Steve justice. He ends up blurting out, “I liked the other uniform -- the blue looked better.”

“Nice to see you too, Tony,” Steve replies, with a grin. 

That takes Tony back a bit. He narrows his eyes, realizing that if he knows that he was talking with Steve online, Steve knows now that he was talking with Tony. Steve seems genuinely happy to see him. That disarms all of Tony’s automatic sarcasm defenses. 

He sort of shoves the shield at Steve. “Um, I’m glad you’re back.” Then he kind of stares at Steve, appreciating the finer points of Steve’s physique. Not awkward at all, uh huh.

“We should be going, boys,” Natasha says from behind them. 

Steve says, “She’s just checking to see if we’re in the process of killing each other.”

“Think she’s disappointed?”

Steve shakes his head. “She’s the one who wanted the Avengers to stay together the most.” He glances back at the team now filing onto the quinjet. “She’s happy now.” 

He takes the shield from Tony and runs a finger along the edge. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, it’s yours. You should have it. Unless T’Challa’s given you a black shield to go with the outfit.”

“I’ll change once we’re in the air.” Setting the shield down, Steve sits in the co-pilot seat and looks expectantly at Tony. Tony realizes Steve thinks he’s going to fly the quinjet. And Tony is in the seat, before he can decide to say no.

Steve does look a hell of a lot better in the Captain America uniform, Tony thinks, as Steve reclaims the shotgun seat after changing. The uniform isn’t something Tony designed, although the uniform’s made with Stark tech, so he already knows how he can improve it. He knows that Steve prefers to have the utmost mobility and flexibility, and from the way Steve is sitting Tony can tell that something is pinching somewhere.

They don’t speak for a half-hour. Then Steve asks, “Did you go see that movie you wanted to?”

“Uh, what? Oh, yeah.” He remembers telling Steve he wanted to see the latest Star Wars film when they talked online. “No.”

“I didn’t either -- Rogue One came to Wakanda while I was out on a long mission.”

“You know, I had a suspicion that you were Grant Rogers all along --”

“It’s not the best name. Sam’s given me grief over it.”

“Good for Sam. He should have.” Tony looks over at Steve, who is smiling back at him. Then they both start laughing. 

It feels awesome to be laughing with Steve again, just letting go of years of tension with the guy. Just two guys off to fight a legendary, space-transported, WWII villain out to burn down the world and rebuild it in his image. 

“I’m glad we’re doing this together.”

“I am too.” Steve stretched his arms and legs. He tapped his fingers on his thighs. 

“So, that whole talking online thing -- why?”

“I saw a video of you without the goatee. You didn’t seem the same without it.”

Tony rubs his still-bare chin. “Eh, trying something new. You don’t like it?”

Steve cocks his head to consider Tony’s face. “Looks better in person than on the screen.”

“Still not sold though, right?”

Steve huffs and looks down at his hands. “Um, Tony, a lot’s gone on before and since Siberia, and I understand that this might be a one-time thing. But I’m glad to see you again. If you want to, we can try --.”

Tony slumps in his seat. He frowns a little, now that the spell is broken. “First we have to stop Red Skull.”

“Okay,” Steve replies tightly.

“We have a lot to talk about,” Tony spills out. “If you and Rhodey talked for three hours, imagine how much time we’ll need.”

Steve says, a bit cryptically, “It wasn’t all about what happened or the mission. I didn’t know much about you you until we talked on the forum.”

“Well, I guess there’s something to say about internet anonymity helping to foster honest communication between us.”

“I didn’t know you liked science fiction.”

“I didn’t know that you had seen all the Star Trek shows and the movies and read some of the tie-in novels.”

“I had some downtime when I was working for SHIELD,” Steve says. 

Tony takes a deep breath. “Looks like we have more in common than we thought.” And, boy, you sure are cute, he adds in his mind. He thinks he would do anything to keep talking to Steve and see that smile on his face. 

“I missed you, when you stopped responding to my messages. I wanted -- I don’t know -- I hoped you weren’t still angry at me.”

“We should get coffee after this,” Tony says before he can censor the thought. But he likes the idea, really likes it now that’s he’s said it out loud. “Dinner, and a movie. We can watch Rogue One or something.”

“I’d like that, Tony,” Steve says, that beautiful smile again on his face. He checks the time. “But business first. We have to debrief the team on the attack plan and check in on Rhodey.”

Right, Red Skull first, then coffee, and maybe dinner and a movie. Tony could do that.

~~~~~

Steve can’t believe how much he missed fighting with a team like this. Granted, the team’s a bit rough in spots. But their training and previous time together makes up for some of it. Clint and Natasha are working like a well-oiled machine on recon and harassing Red Skull’s thugs. Wanda is managing her powers beautifully and nailing it every time. Sam, with Redwing, is doing his usual excellent job. Steve has his concerns about Vision and is thinking of some training to fix the problems. Assuming there is an Avengers after this.

He glances up at Tony circling above and smiles. Tony is rapidly reporting real-time information about Red Skull. But, more importantly, he’s providing the heavy air-support they desperately need.

Of all of them, he’s missed working with Tony the most. All Tony really needs to shine is some direction and purpose and a defined place on the team. No one else could really do what he does.

Steve is taken by how beautiful the armor is in the sun. He may be falling for Tony. No -- he has already fallen for Tony online, and seeing him in person again just makes his feelings stronger. 

Maybe if he can fight along his friends to save the world, he can do this again, be Captain America again. This time he will pick up the shield because he wants to, not because he doesn't have any other options.

And, if he could fight alongside Tony, that would be like Christmas and the Fourth of July and V-E Day all together for Steve. Nothing is more gorgeous than Tony unloading a series of missiles into Red Skull’s base. And he wants desperately to see more of that Tony.

The fighting ends with the Avengers cornering Red Skull.

“You should be dead,” the Red Skull snarls at Steve.

“So should you,” Steve replies grimly as he takes the Skull down with a most satisfying crunch from the shield.

~~~~~

Steve, bloodied and slightly battered, is leaning against the wall. Tony sits down next to him. “That was something,” he mutters. 

“Yep,” Steve agrees. He gets a message over the comms. “They’re loading Red Skull on a quinjet right now.”

They both chuckle, and sit there quietly, neither wanting to move. 

“It’s the grief, you know,” Tony finally says. “I keep thinking I’m over it, but the loss creeps up on me when I’m not looking.”

“It never goes away,” Steve agrees. “The loss.”

“I didn't know what I wanted. Someone to suffer as much as I did -- I do. To know what I felt knowing how my mom died. Usually I can build my way out of anything. But I lost Pepper because I couldn't give up Iron Man. Then being Iron Man caused too many problems. If I had just had some space to think -- maybe then things would’ve been different.”

“Or not.” Steve stretches out his legs. “Some things you grieve all your life. I didn’t want to lose anyone else or anything more, so I held on too tightly to the past.” 

“But you had the Avengers. And friends. You were catching up.”

Steve shakes his head. “Ultron taunted me -- saying I couldn’t live without war. SHIELD, the Avengers -- all of it it was me fighting another war to hold on to the past.” Steve rubs his hand down his leg. “I turned a blind eye to things I shouldn’t have to keep the illusion going.”

Tony reached out to take Steve’s gloved hand in his. “I could use a friend while I’m trying to put everything behind me..”

Steve squeezes Tony’s hand. “And I could use a friend to remind me of the future.”

Later on, they talk to the press. The statements are short and simple -- the safety of the world is far more important than any personal fights and the Avengers will be reforming to fight for Earth where and when needed, in accordance with international law. 

Tony and Steve are standing together for the press conference, with Tony stealing glances at Steve. Despite the obvious attractions of Steve’s Wakandan special ops uniform, Tony has to admit that Steve looks much better in the Cap uniform.

For now though, they sit together hand in hand, smiling at finally understanding each other. 

“I have no idea why your butt isn’t sore from sitting here so long,” Tony says at last. “I have the most heavily armored butt in the world, all you’ve got is StarkTextile on yours.”

Steve laughs. “I’m fine. I’ve had training to sit on concrete.”

“Yeah, but --”

“Do I have to kiss you to shut you up?”

“I can’t imagine a better use for your mouth right now.”

Steve traces the line of Tony’s jaw with his glove. He’s nervous that Tony might not mean this and he wants this so much. He presses his chapped lips against Tony’s smooth ones, and he can feel Tony’s smile against his lips. Steve closes his eyes as Tony deepens the kiss. He can’t believe his luck and his heart lightens like he is filling up with sunshine and summer. But he’s missing something. 

“It’s different without the goatee,” Steve admits. 

“And how would you know?” Tony asks, his brown eyes smiling. “Wait, you’ve thought about this, haven’t you, mister? Kissing me?”

Steve turns red. And admits, “Guilty.”

Tony laughs and punches Steve’s arm. “You’re full of surprises. This is going to be a hell of a lot of fun.”

~~~~~

A couple of months later, Steve is trying to train Tony in casual spying, something easy. Tony knows Natasha would be laughing her ass off watching them. But he isn’t going to complain about Steve playing footsie under the table.

“You’re not recognizable without the goatee,” Steve says. He looks great in a blue hoodie and a baseball hat. He blends into the crowd, although people sneak a look at the great-looking guys on a coffee date. Or so Tony thinks.

“Says the man who likes the goatee.” Tony is wearing a hoodie and sunglasses too.

“Lot to be said for the goatee.” Steve sips his coffee, scanning the crowd. 

“If you like it so much, you could try growing one.” Tony thoughtfully rubs his scruffy chin. He’s growing it back -- the whole bare chin thing isn’t working for him at all. 

All it really took was Steve asking. That, and someone saying how much Tony looks like his father without the goatee. He’ll be back to facial hair glory in a month or so. 

“Hah. Tell me what you see on your six.”

“Spying isn’t going to help us fight an alien invasion,” Tony says.

“Aliens?” Steve replies in the bemused tone he has about aliens. Which he really shouldn’t have, for a man who has fought a couple of different alien invasions so far. 

“I never told you what I saw in the wormhole and that vision Wanda gave me. Steve, there are aliens ready to invade the world and kill us all.”

Now Steve’s interest was piqued. “What do you think we should do about it?”

“You know, if I had known what you’d be like as a boyfriend, we could’ve started dating years ago and passed on all the fights.”

Steve squeezes Tony’s hand. “Let’s talk about fighting aliens.”

Tony beams at him. “Now I know why I find you so sexy.”


End file.
